Everyday we are bombarded by culture as we walk down the streets of our city and even through the corridors of our home from our parents to our siblings. Therefore culture is the belief, laws, traditions, and many more that make a way of life unique from one another. Culture is the first stepping stone to begin creating your self identity, but it does not fully encompass our being. Therefore a balance is created between the too, we will always be influenced culture but always express our own individuality.…
Culture is the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively. America is made up af tons of different cultures, this is caused by all the people who have immigrated to America over the years. Because of this the U.S. is also very Diverse. Diversity is a variety of different things or in this case races. It is important to learn about these different cultures and ethnic groups. This is because the more we understand of their culture the more we get the way they act. We should always treat people who are different than us with respect. This is important no matter how weird you might think there life style is.…
When I was a child, my favorite movie was The Wizard of Oz. Out of all of Dorothy’s friends, the Cowardly Lion was probably my least favorite. He had gone to ask the Wizard for courage and I didn’t understand why. Others wanted tangible items such as a brain or a heart and yet he wanted courage. I had thought of courage as something that you just dug down and found within yourself when you needed it not something not just a material thing that was necessary to live like a brain or a heart. Courage is something I always felt I had within, but it was confirmed within myself when my school hit major news over racial issues.…
That’s interesting you’ve mentioned not to attend the hospital and funeral for your grandmother. In my African American/Indian culture if a woman is pregnant she’s prohibited to attend anywhere the death angel may currently be around, and funerals are definitely off limits. My family used to say when a life is taken a new life is born and I don’t know if the pregnant thing was an old superstation by forbidden spirit in my family as well because they believed the death angel comes to take a life in three; therefore it permits the baby a chance at life. Nowadays, there’s wills and other things in place to carry out a person’s wishes. I believe she told you because she knew she could trust you to carry out her last wishes amongst the family accordingly.…
Here i am sitting in the kitchen cutting me up some potatoes for dinner my daughters in the back room, She says “MOM!! COME!! HERE!!”. So i'm listening and it says “ A black african american woman has been arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white person on a Montgomery city Bus” As i'm sitting there thinking it pops up in my head that she works with me, I work at an Montgomery ward as a semingtris. We use to call her Miss Rosa. On the radio they said that they took her to jail. I would have bailed miss Rosa out if I had the money but I didn't miss Rosa was a Beautiful african american woman and she was very nice. A day after her arrest i heard on the radio that a Black man named Edgar Nixon had bailed Miss Rosa out of jail a…
“Wow! I did not know there were black Americans”. During the month I was in China, I heard this or a variant of it jokily said to me numerous times. I never took offense to it since I understood most of the media from America that came to China featured individuals who did not look like me. Furthermore, for those Americans who had come to China, they were mostly white and had come for business. While in China, I was able to share my experience as an African-American; I always found enjoyment sharing my experiences and it seemed to me those around me found enjoyment learning about a different side of America. With me sharing my experiences, they were being able to understand the diverse nature of the United States.…
Being black comes with its own challenges speak Black and Hispanic is a new challenge altogether. my skin was never dark enough to fit in with the black kids my skin was never light enough to be considered for the Puerto Rican kids I never quite fit in. I couldn't give people what they expect of me I could not step dance in a proper way, my Spanish didn’t always roll off the tongue easily. expectations could be different depending on who I was with, but one expectation always remained the same. it was expected that I would feel and everything I wouldn't do. failure was always my best shot. Except I don't always meet expectations I always exceed them, I do not and have not failed. throughout elementary school middle school and even at the high school level my grades remain…
I lived in Hollywood, FL for nine years to long. It was circumstantial how I wound up there. It was not a pleasant experience. I went to Florida niave. I thought that the blacks from different parts of the world got along. I was in for a rude awakening. My family goes back to be an American every since colonization. I felt like an outsider in America an I’m a veteran. I experienced prejudice and stereo typing from both the men an the women. I t would pain me to see how other black Americans were treated. Most of the black americans families migrated from Mississippi, Alabama and the Carolins. The majority of the Islanders lived in their own commities like Mirramor, Little Hatti and…
My cultural background is Native American, Scottish, Irish, and Canadian; I have been taught a lot about our cultural background throughout my life. I have also been lucky in the area I grew up. I grew up in a very culturally diverse area. Many of my friends from elementary school through high school were from many different cultures. I grew up eating food at friends house that to this day I still cant pronounce.…
Warm dim lights bounced around the inside of a classroom like air molecules inside a hot air balloon. It was different outside. Crystal clear rain drops fell from the sky endlessly. The reason why we had recess inside instead of outside. Sitting with friends in a circle, we played with lego blocks while building the most breathtaking structures.…
Kids all around me whispered excitedly to each other about the party in the park that afternoon. All of us black kids, were going to get out of school and go down there. We are all so eager to see that signal that none of us were paying attention to the teacher. After a while, Mrs. Tiller just gave up on teaching us and started grading papers. We all are waiting by the windows anxious to see when we got to run and join our friends. We are sitting here contemplating what we are about to do. I don’t want to think about the time when we would be stuck in jail. I just want to think about us standing up for all of the blacks. My ma and pa don’t want me to go with everyone. but , for once, I won’t listen. I will be a proud black and stand up for…
When we got to my house, my friend was there. My younger sister wanted to go hang out with her friend down the street, so he and I went down the street to bring her while Leann and Kyanna stayed at my house. When we got to the neighbors yard, I could feel eyes peering at me through the window. My sister’s best friend came outside and I felt the same look again. Someone was definitely watching us. We heard movement in the house. Rushed movement, like someone was afraid. My sister’s best friend went back in the house to find out what was wrong. She came back out and told us that her family was afraid my friend was going to rob them. My friend was an African American and people often stereotyped African Americans to be robbers. The girl’s family…
Out of all experiences I've had, the one that has been meaningful to me is taking my last yearbook pictures for my senior year. I wasn't taking pictures for a mugshot and a crime scene photographer wasn’t taking pictures of my lifeless body. I reached a milestone in my life that many people told me I couldn’t achieve. Though I hadn’t walked across the stage for graduation yet, it felt good to do something that many people told me I wouldn’t ever experience being a young black girl in America. The reason why this specific moment was meaningful to me is because it made me think about the many people my age who never got to experience this; the feeling of being ALMOST done with high school. I could've been like many African American people my…
I was born and raised here in the United States. Therefore, I have been part of a generation that has experienced both the good and the bad. When I was younger, I always thought America was the greatest country in the world. I was so proud to be born and raised in the United States. I remember learning about 9/11 every year, watching Barack Obama become our first African-American President, and learning about the many tragedies our nation has faced along these past few years. Being an American and witnessing so many events unfold these past few years has made me feel both happy and upset with how our nation has evolved. The United States is filled with so much pop culture and technology and…
As a young child, I never really understood the concept of having a healthy racial identity. Racial identity was not a topic of conversation in school; however school and other factors have had major effects on my racial identity. I was not even familiar with what it meant to be a Black individual. When I was younger, I did not focus on being black or white, I solely focused on playing with other children. However, it was not until racist events began to occur did I begin to question my identity. Anyone would think that a child whom was raised in a family where racial pride is prominent would evidently grow into an adult that also projects this racial pride. However, distinct racist events, micro-aggressions, and other events have a major impact on how children and adults contract their racial identity.…
